Buy.com "Customer Service"

Apropos of the Mad Martian's first post (how'd your first time feel?) ;)

I recently ordered some server equipment from buy.com.  (A server rack, a caster/wheel set for it, cage nuts, and mounting screws.)  Four items total.  The first item weighs around 110 pounds, so must be shipped via ground.  Okay, no problem.  That particular item was also backordered on Amazon for "three to four weeks" so I took a shot and ordered it on Buy because it was (allegedly) both available and $75 cheaper than Amazon, even with Amazon having free shipping and Buy charging $21 for shipping.

BIG MISTAKE.

All four items supposedly shipped on 2/24.  Red flag number one:  Only the 1 lb "cage nuts" received a tracking number.  They said "large, bulky items may not receive a tracking number."  Oooookay.  I received one email for the cage nuts saying they'd shipped, and one email for the other three components (about 2 hours apart) saying they'd shipped.  I thought - GREAT, I should be able to put it all together this weekend.

Here we sit on March 5th.  I've received... the cage nuts.  Three days ago.  Which, incidentally, does me a whole lot of good without the other three items!  I contacted Buy's "Customer Service" on 3/3 at 8AM, using the "Where is my shipment?" option.  They claim it will take 24 hours to respond and investigate normally, but up to 48 in the cases of missing shipments.  And that only includes business days, of course.  I love when you contact a company and the answer to every question is "we will have to investigate."  Let's see... it says it shipped.  What carrier did you use to ship it?  When is the estimated delivery date?  Why isn't there a tracking number?  The fact of the matter is I've ordered things from all over this fine country of ours, and even if it was shipping from the northwest corner of Washington state, it should be here by now if it shipped on the 24th.  Our country is great, and large, but it's not Siberia we're talking about here.  

So, Buy... you're on notice.  The clock is ticking for you to make this right and make me happy.  And you better believe I'll be on the phone with you at 9AM on Monday if I don't have a response by then, with my wrath at the ready if necessary.  I've always erred on the side of being nice with the customer service reps, but as I learned in many an epic battle with Comcast - sometimes, you have to use the hammer!

On the bright side, since they shipped separately, I have a nice neat line item on my credit card for the other three items to dispute with my credit card company if they don't make this right.  And at this rate, I should have just ordered it from Amazon.  Even waiting two weeks it probably would have been here "Buy" now!